Individual Well Grant

The objective of the grant scheme is to assist households dependent on private individual water supplies who are incurring capital expenditure to:

Provide a piped supply of water for domestic purposes, or

Remedy serious deficiencies in an existing supply of water for domestic purposes

The scheme does not apply to houses to which a public or group scheme water supply has already been provided or can reasonably be provided.

Works carried out before a prior inspection by the local authority do not qualify under the scheme.

ELIGIBILITY

A person is eligible for a grant if he/she is

a) providing a piped supply of water to an existing house for the first time, or

b) carrying out improvements to a seriously deficient existing piped supply of water to a house, where the supply of water concerned is a supply other than a public or group scheme supply. For the purposes of this memorandum, a group water scheme is a scheme providing a private supply of water by means of a common or shared source of supply and distribution system.

A person is not eligible for a grant if, in the opinion of the local authority, if

c) the house concerned is not occupied by the applicant as his or her normal place of residence (e.g. a holiday home),

d) the house concerned is at present connected to a public or group scheme water supply,

e) the area in which the house is located is or is about to be served by a public water supply or a group scheme water supply,

f) the house concerned is under construction or has been constructed within the previous 7 years,

g) a grant for -

the provision of the house concerned, or

the provision or improvement of a water supply to that house, has been paid within the previous 7 years.

QUALIFYING WORKS

Works qualify under the scheme where they are undertaken to provide or improve a supply of water for domestic purposes in a house and they consist of one or more of the following -

drilling or commissioning a new well,

rehabilitating an existing well, including deepening or relining an existing bore or the removal of silt,

providing or upgrading a supply of water from a surface water source,

the construction or improvement of a pumphouse, piping or other facilities in connection with the supply of water,

the provision or improvement of mechanical or electrical equipment or facilities in connection with the supply of water, or

the provision or improvement of facilities or equipment for the treatment of water.

Works do not qualify where, in the opinion of the local authority,

a) they have an approved cost of less than €634.86,

b) the proposed works exceed what would be required to secure an adequate supply of water for domestic purposes,

c) they relate to the installation or improvement of plumbing inside a house,

d) they relate to the provision or up-grading of a supply of water for non-domestic purposes,

e) they are carried out before the local authority’s prior inspection takes place

PRIOR INSPECTION

The local authority will carry out a prior inspection to -

determine eligibility and whether the proposed works qualify, and

in the case of an application relating to the improvement of an existing supply, determine whether such supply is seriously deficient.

Where the applicant is not, at the time of application, able to provide full details of the proposed works (for example, in the case of a new well), the local authority will only confirm whether or not the applicant is eligible for a grant.

The applicant will be required to submit three quotations for all works for the Authority to determine the most appropriate contractor.

The authority will consider whether the relevant works qualify, and determine an approved cost and amount of grant, when full details of such works are provided.

APPROVED COST

The approved cost, the amount on the basis of which the amount of grant is calculated, is determined by the local authority. It is an estimate of the reasonable cost of qualifying works

AMOUNT OF GRANT

The amount of a grant will be

75% of the approved cost (or, where appropriate, the revised approved cost, paragraphs 10.2 and 10.3 refer), or

€2,031.58, whichever is the lesser.

CERTIFICATE OF PROVISIONAL APPROVAL

Where the local authority has

carried out a prior inspection to its satisfaction, and

determined that the applicant is eligible, the proposed works qualify, and all other terms and conditions of the scheme are complied with, and

determined the approved cost and the amount of grant, it will issue a Certificate of Provisional Approval to the applicant.

CARRYING OUT OF WORKS

After receipt of a Certificate of Provisional Approval, the works concerned may commence. The works must be carried out by a contractor registered for VAT who holds a current Form C2 or tax clearance certificate from the Revenue Commissioners.

CLAIMING PAYMENT

On completion of the works, payment of grant may be claimed by the applicant by signing the declaration incorporated in the Certificate of Provisional Approval, and returning it together with receipts in respect of qualifying works to the local authority.

PAYMENT OF GRANT

Following receipt of a claim for payment, the local authority will carry out an inspection of the works to establish that -

the works proposed in the application have been satisfactorily undertaken and completed, and

a water supply which is satisfactory in both quality and quantity has been provided.

Once this is established, the grant will be paid.

Where the local authority is of the opinion that the works have not been undertaken in accordance with the application, or have not been satisfactorily completed, the authority may -

a) determine a revised approved cost,

b) withhold payment of the grant until the applicant carries out such alterations to the existing works or such additional works as may be notified by the authority.

Where the local authority is of the opinion that the actual cost of the qualifying works is less than the approved cost, a revised approved cost will be determined.